A criminal probe has commenced against the French proprietors of a Swiss ski bar following a tragic fire on New Year’s Eve. This investigation comes amid allegations that an emergency exit at the establishment was perpetually locked.

Authorities have revealed that Jacques Moretti, aged 49, and his wife Jessica, aged 40, are under investigation on charges of manslaughter due to negligence, bodily injury, and arson. This follows a devastating blaze that resulted in 40 fatalities and 119 injuries.

The fire erupted at Le Constellation, located in the Alpine resort town of Crans-Montana, when sparklers in champagne bottles ignited ceiling insulation foam in the bar’s basement.

Dramatic video captured the scene as partygoers, many of them teenagers, continued to celebrate even as the flames spread across the ceiling, missing precious moments to evacuate.

The venue has since been criticized as a ‘deathtrap’ after it was disclosed that attendees had to squeeze up a narrow staircase to flee the inferno and the poisonous fumes in the basement.

In a significant turn of events, it emerged yesterday that another escape route might have existed via an emergency exit in the basement. However, it is alleged that this exit was consistently locked, preventing its use during the emergency.

Andrea, 31, a bartender who works elsewhere in the resort but was a regular at Le Constellation, told German newspaper Bild: ‘There was an entrance that also served as an exit. And there was an emergency exit. But whenever I was there, it was always locked.

‘Everyone in town knew things were bound to go wrong eventually.

‘The emergency exit was in a separate smoking room. Hardly anyone used it; most went up to the conservatory. The smoking room was used as a kind of storage room. There was a sofa inside in front of the door, and carelessly discarded objects lay outside.’

Pictured: 16–year–old girl Chiara Costanzo, from Milan, Italy, was the second person to be named as a victim

A makeshift memorial outside the ‘Le Constellation’ bar following the fire 

Another witness, Grigori, who was on his way to the bar when the fire erupted, and whose friend is among the missing, said: ‘There’s another exit, but I think they were locking it because some people were escaping without paying.’

The Mail on Sunday has also identified a third exit on the ground floor of the bar, which led into a covered shopping area that includes a ski rental shop. 

Anyone using that exit would then, however, have to go through another glass door to escape on to the street. It is unclear whether either of those doors were open or locked when the fire started at 1.30am.

The revelations came as a 16–year–old girl from Milan, Italy, was the second person to be named as a victim. Chiara Costanzo’s father, Andrea, told an Italian newspaper he felt a ‘great emptiness’ after receiving a call ‘that should never come to a father’.

‘Until the very end we hoped that Chiara was among the injured admitted to the hospital but not yet identified,’ he said. ‘Then, without warning, the world collapses. You’re never ready. You can’t be.

‘It’s unnatural for a father to lose a daughter. I wish she wasn’t ‘just’ a name on a list of victims. Because she was never a number. She was a beloved daughter.’

Italian national Emanuele Galeppini, 17 and a golf prodigy, was the first victim to be reported dead, with the news confirmed by the Italian Golf Federation on Friday.

Police yesterday said eight Swiss victims had been identified and their bodies released to their families. They are four women and four men, including two 16–year–olds. 

Dozens of families, however, continue to face an agonising wait as experts attempt to identify the remaining 30 victims and five of the most seriously injured.

The entrance of the bar Le Constellation where a fire ripped through the venue during New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Alpine ski resort town of Crans–Montana

Mourners hug alongside floral tributes to the victims of the fire near the bar in Crans–Montana

Swiss justice minister Beat Jans (second from the right) looks at the tributes to the victims

A firefighter pays tribute to the victims of the deadly fire at the Le Constellation bar in Crans–Montana, Switzerland

A photo appears to show the moment champagne sparklers set fire to material on the ceiling of the Swiss nightclub

Footage shows the deadly flashover, when extreme heat caused everything inside the enclosed space to ignite almost at once, that left people little chance to flee

‘It’s a wait that destroys people’s stability,’ said Elvira Venturella, an Italian psychologist working with the families. Those missing include French–born Charlotte Niddam, 15, who attended Immanuel College, a private Jewish school in Hertfordshire, and the Jewish Free School in North London.

One of her friends, Summer Chesler, yesterday posted a video montage showing the pair dancing together with the caption: ‘I miss my best friend.’

Another friend, Sophie, shared a separate TikTok video with a caption that read: ‘My heart has broken. Please come home Charlotte, we are all waiting for you.’

Sixteen–year–old Arthur Brodard is also among the missing. His mother Laetitia, from Lausanne, Switzerland, said: ‘There are five unidentified people in hospital [but] the authorities refuse to tell us where they are, in which country, in which canton. Anger is starting to rise. There are more than 30 parents looking for our children.’

Stephane Ganzer, state councillor in charge of the Department of Security, said the identification of victims was ‘a top priority’, acknowledging the ‘unbearable wait’ endured by families.

Mr Moretti yesterday appeared for the first time since the tragedy, near a restaurant he owns in the nearby village of Lens. He refused to answer questions from the MoS.

Meanwhile, last night’s episode of ITV’s The Masked Singer scrapped a performance of the song Disco Inferno, which featured dancers in fire suits, ‘owing to potential insensitivities’.